Dan Wieden once said that the secret to insightful advertising was to show up to work stupid – which is a great way of saying that every day is an opportunity to learn something new, a motto to which Tyson has consistently stayed true. In the course of his career as an art director, Tyson has been stupid at agencies on the East Coast, in Toronto and in Germany, including a 4-year stint running his own creative boutique, Kilo Creative. He has won awards for his work from Marketing, London International, Applied Arts, Ice Awards, the Extras, and Letterman’s Top Ten (shouldn’t there be an award for that?). Tyson has worked for clients such as Moosehead, Labatt, Atlantic Lottery, Nova Scotia Tourism, Bell Aliant, McDonald’s, Telus, Capital One – and many others. Tyson hopes one day to actually be smart. A contrarian take on pitching
Since when is pitching such a bad thing?
Recently I came across a posting from a friend in the business repeating the advice of David Drogba of Drogba5 in New York, “Don’t pitch unless you get paid.”
Really? Is that the message we as an industry want to be sending? That we’re too good to make an effort to win our clients’ business?
For years now I’ve listened to agencies complain about the time and effort they feel are ‘wasted’ in pitches. That we have to work our butts off just for a ‘chance’ to win their business. But here’s the thing: a pitch is a job interview. Complaining that you have to put effort into it is like complaining that you have to put on a jacket and tie to meet a prospective employer. As a client, if I had a few hundred thousand in business to give away, I’d think I’d like it go to someone who cares enough to make the effort too. [...]
